8 Ways data journalism brought in 2018

Every year, on 31 December, news organisations across the globe reflect on the year that was. We took a look at eight examples of outlets that used numbers.

1. Politico

Starting strong, Politico's Hanne Cokelaere put together a sleek suite of graphs exploring the topics that defined 2017. From public opinion data on the Brexit negotiations to their impact on migration, Donald Trump’s number of retweets to Google Trends data on the #MeToo movement, Cokelaere uses a vast array of data to explore the year's hottest topics.

Image: Politico.

2. The Calgary Herald

Not all of 2017's most important stories were global. Taking a local look back on the year, the Calgary Herald's Annalise Klingbeil compiled a chronological roundup of what happened at city hall in 2017, number by number.

Image: Calgary Herald.

3. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

At the country level, Australia's ABC crunched Google search trends to produce a broad snapshot of the people, places, fads, and events that defined the nation's year.

Image: ABC.

4. Snapchat

For the citizen journalist in all of us, Snapchat released a feature called 'Your 2017 Story'. Using the 'memories' tab, users can create a curated look back at the year, through saved snaps.

Image: Morgan Ulvenes.

5. FiveThirtyEight

Rather than creating a new data story, the team at FiveThirtyEight recounted their favourite ways the outlet used data in 2017.

Image: FiveThirtyEight.

6. Instagram

Among the many social outlets, Instagram released it's top stats for 2017. With a community of 800 million, their data paints an interesting picture of the people, events, and trends that dominated the year.

Image: Instagram.

7. ProPublica

As a nonprofit outlet, ProPublica faces unique challenges to produce it's investigative reporting. To illustrate these, the team calculated the hidden costs behind the year's reporting. From car mileage to obscenely large Linkedin searches, the piece makes you appreciate what it means to work in a nonprofit newsroom.

Image: ProPublic's extensive factchecking.

8. IndiaSpend

But what about the year ahead? At IndiaSpend, they looked back to look forward. Using data on Tuberculosis and mortality rates, they forecast four reasons why 2018 is shaping up to be a promising year for India.

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About the author(s)

Madolyn Smith

Editor

Madolyn Smith is an Editor at the European Journalism Centre (EJC). Since 2013, she has worked in a variety of media monitoring organizations across Europe, Australia, and Asia, including for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Bangkok, Thailand.